Note 3 — BOOK II. CONCERNING THE CONDUCT OF CAUSES.
S. P. (Samuel Parsons) Scott translation
The first sentence of this chapter is directly at variance with the maxim subsequently inculcated with such diligence by the Church of Rome; through the rigid enforcement of which it long maintained its despotic empire, and which it still regards as one of the most important sources of its power: “Ignorance is the mother of Devotion.”
It may be conjectured from the above, that the familiar legal axiom, “Ignorantia legis neminem excusat,” already ancient, and well established in the seventh century, is probably as old as the law itself.—[Ed.]